Chinese robotaxi companies rivaling Waymo

American firms see stiff competition for driverless vehicles on an international stage.

- BY LINDA LEW

BAIDU'S APOLLO Go Robotaxi drives in Chongqing, China. The latest Apollo Go model costs about $28,800.

(China News Service)

American companies led by Alphabet Inc.'s Waymo have drawn much of the limelight with driverless cars deployed almost entirely on home soil. Now that some are beginning to look abroad, they'll have to share roads with Chinese companies quietly making plenty of progress.

Baidu Inc.'s Apollo Go, WeRide Inc. and Pony AI Inc. are outnumbering their American counterparts with more robotaxi projects progressing from testing to various stages of commercialization, according to a BloombergNEF analysis. While much of that headway is being made domestically, the Chinese companies are standing up operations in places such as Singapore, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and looking to launch in Germany, the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe.

Comparing autonomous vehicles companies' progress isn't a straightforward exercise; the industry has been synonymous with false dawns and unfulfilled promises. Players that have looked promising and raised billions at rich valuations have been doomed by singular crashes they never recovered from or been cut off by benefactors that have lost patience.

But if the state of batteries and electric vehicles proves anything, it's that Beijing is willing to devote untold sums to strategic sectors that require fortitude to conquer. The dominant EV industry that China has built over decades is now among the potential advantages its autonomous vehicle companies may have over Waymo and U.S. hopefuls including Tesla Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.'s Zoox.